Gen Z has a housing advantage over parents in one respect

The nation's youngest homeowners were outpaced by their parents and grandparents last year, but the much sought-after purchasing demographic is doing better than its elders in some ways, Redfin found.

Just 26.3% of Gen Zers, or those born between 1997 to 2012, owned a home last year, the digital brokerage reported Wednesday. That rate ticked up by 0.1% annually, a growth lagging behind millennials, of which 54.8% owned a home last year, and Gen Xers, of which 72% owned a home.

Like all prospective buyers, 19-to-26 year olds last year encountered steep unaffordability, although mortgage rates faded to close the year after almost approaching 8%.

Gen Zers are still outpacing their parents and grandparents in one respect, however: 27.8% of 24-year-old Gen Zers own a home, compared to 24.5% of Millennials when they were that age, and 23.5% of Gen Xers at the same level of maturity. The brokerage cited historic U.S. Census Bureau homeownership data as the basis for its findings.

Young buyers are emboldened by remote work opportunities which allow them to choose affordability over expensive urban markets, Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said in the report. 

"The recent decline in rents means Gen Zers can put more money toward saving for a down payment," she added.

Many Gen Z homeowners likely purchased during the ultra-low rate era of 2020 and 2021, the brokerage's economists suggested. Their advantageous window compares favorably to Millennials, who in their early 20s lived through the Great Recession, and Gen Xers who faced mortgage rates around 11% in 1989, when the oldest of that group were 24 years old. 

Gen Zers put a heavy emphasis on buying a home but are more concerned with erasing debt, such as student loans, in the near term, according to a FinLocker survey last year. While mortgage lenders are seeking to court young homebuyers with attractive marketing, Gen Z themselves are seeking to boost their income via methods such as "house hacking", or earning rental income.